Bay Area Engineering provides foundation engineering, design, and inspection services.  All services related to foundations are compliant with guidance provided by the Texas Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in “Recommended Practice for the Design of Residential Foundations”, Version 1, dated 2002.  We will prepare plans and specifications for the foundation, conduct the necessary inspections to ensure the as-built foundation is compliant with all plans and specifications, and serve as the engineer of record.

All foundation design is compliant with the American Concrete Institute, “Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete” (ACI 318-02).  Conventional Slab-on-Grade foundations will be compliant with the Wire Reinforcement Institute, “Design of Slab-on-Grade Foundations”.  Post-Tensioned Slab-on-Grade foundations will comply with the Post-Tensioning Institute, “Design of Post-Tensioned Slabs-on-Grade, 3rd Edition.  We will require a geotechnical report that adequately characterizes the soil conditions for each building site in order to establish foun­dation design parameters.  The minimum exploration program for a subdivision should be determined by the geotechnical engineer and shall cover the geo­graphic and topographic limits of the subdivision, and shall examine believed differences in geology in sufficient detail to provide information and guidance for secondary investigations, if any.  The geotechnical exploration program should take into account site conditions, such as vegetation, depth of fill, drainage, seepage areas, slopes, fence lines, old roads or trails, man-made constructions, the time of year regarding seasonal weather cycles and other conditions that may affect foundation performance.

We will inspect all foundations prior to the placement of concrete to ensure com­pliance with designs and specifications.  If required by the client or local building official, we will wit­ness and document the placement of concrete.  We will inspect post-tensioned founda­tions after tendon stressing to ensure elongations are within acceptable limits.  A copy of the comprehensive inspection procedure and checklist we fol­low is available for your review.